There are a variety of devices which facilitate carrying miscellaneous articles on bicycles. The marketplace has favored a metal rack attached above the rear wheel, to provide a generally horizontal platform surface. The rack typically has struts and brackets by which it is secured to the frame of the bicycle. See for example, the disclosures of U.S. Pat. No. 4,154,382 to Blackburn, U.S. Pat. No. 4,562,944 to Jackson et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 4,383,625, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
Sometimes, bags or baskets are attached to the rack platform to carry goods, as shown in the above mentioned Jackson et al. patent. Other times, closed containers may be mounted on or integrated into the rack. Quite frequently, the things which are carried are held on the rack by straps or elastic cords. The foregoing means have various disadvantages, including such as high initial cost, ineffectiveness, being subject to misplacement or loss when not in use, etc. Another manner of securing things to rack tops comprises so-called "rat trap" type devices, wherein one or more spring loaded metal brackets extends part way across the rack platform, to press the thing being held against the rack surface.
There are many simple bicycle racks already in use, and they continue to be sold with simple but inferior means for securing things to the platform. Thus, there is a need for a simple and low cost clamp for securing things to platforms; and especially, there is a need for a clamp that is adapted for retrofitting on presently installed rack products with minimal use of tools.